DSP Charity Cyrilta Kudjawu who happens to be the Koforidua District Police Crime Officer has issued a stern warning to young women, advising them against sending nude pictures and videos to their partners.
At a recent public forum held in the Eastern region of Ghana (Koforidua) to empower women on “Digital Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality and Equity,” organized by the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to mark International Women’s Day, Kudjawu expressed concern about the rising trend of women, particularly young women, being blackmailed with sexually explicit images.
According to him, sextortion has become an increasingly common cybercrime, and many women have fallen victim to it. In Africa, cybercrime is estimated to cost $5 billion annually, while the global figure stands at $550 billion.
According to the cyber security Authority, Ghana lost at least $9.9 million in 2019 to cybercrime, with $6.9 million lost through fraud, $2.8 million lost to intrusion and stealing, and the remainder to sextortion and child pornography.
Mrs. Regina Bempong, the Eastern Regional Secretary for NALAG, acknowledged the challenges faced by women in the digital space but encouraged them to leverage technology for economic empowerment. She stressed that women were crucial stakeholders and drivers of economic development and could not be left out of the digital economy.
